names of gnuplot Win32 binaries

[Petr M. <mi...@ph...>]

	Hi all,

we should solve an issue with naming Windows gnuplot binaries after the 
recent addition of the console-capable target.

Current situation:
- wgnuplot.exe:
  binary with a GUI for text input; piping into it does not work; piping
  "inside" (e.g. "plot '<preprocess data.dat'") does not work
- wgnuplot_pipes.exe:
  as above, piping "inside" works (drawback: executable is tighed to a 
  a console window)
- pgnuplot.exe: helper program used for piping commands into wgnuplot.exe, 
  i.e. redirect standard input
- gnuplot.exe: console mode binary compiled by Cygwin with X11 terminal 
  (requires running X-server - works OK with eXceed, cygwin's X11, etc.)

Recently, Michael Goffioul provided a patch to gnuplot sources what enables 
to compile Windows gnuplot binary with console text input and Windows 
terminal, see [ 1627936 ] Gnuplot Win32 in console mode 
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=302055&aid=1627936&group_id=2055

The primary intention was to achieve better functionality of programs piping 
commands to gnuplot, like Octave, i.e. an efficient pgnuplot.exe 
replacement.

Thus, what should be the name of this executable?

Choice 1.
The executable will be called pgnuplot.exe -- it will replace the current 
pgnuplot.exe. No change is required for programs using gnuplot as a plotting 
engine.

Choice 2.
The executable is called gnuplot.exe. Then, every platform will have an
executable called gnuplot. However -- this will happen somewhen in future 
(when gnuplot 4.4 is released).
Drawbacks:
1. the name clashes with the name of the x11-capable executable 
   (user/program cannot determine which one gets called)
2. no piping program is set-up to use gnuplot.exe under Windows, and in 
   future there will be ambiguity whether to call pgnuplot.exe or 
   gnuplot.exe.
Thus, it would at least require to reimplement pgnuplot.c so that it 
redirects all characters from stdin into gnuplot.exe instead of WinMessages 
into wgnuplot.exe.


Therefore, in my option, the best way to ensure compatibility is to call 
the console-capable executable pgnuplot.exe. There will be no change needed 
for other programs using gnuplot, power users could use pgnuplot.exe for 
console mode with Windows terminal and others will not be confused.

I have proposed to rename the current binary of pgnuplot.c to 
pgnuplot_small.exe if somebody still needs to use it.


Opinions - votes?

---
Petr Mikulik